Eldar Spoilers from the Unforgiven War Pack

The first pack in the Death World Cycle, Jungles of Nectavus, introduced some new themes and mechanics to the game. Two of these new concepts have been the introduction of cheaper army units that provide a boost to Elite units at the same planet and cards with the Deep Strike mechanic. With the Unforgiven War Pack just around the corner, The Tactical Squad is very happy to warp in some spoilers and share two Eldar cards that continue with the concepts mentioned above.

adherent-outcast

The first card is the Adherent Outcast. Its ability pretty much translate as elites will now be harder to kill through attacks at this planet. Most elites will in theory end up with 8 to 12 health while at a planet with this unit. However, unless this unit can be protected, most times it will probably be the first unit attacked and thus in practice the extra health will not be a factor over multiple attacks. This card with just a single Elite at a planet is not going to swing the battle in a big way, but if it is a close battle with either an Elite vs a swarm of army units or one Elite vs another, this card might be just enough to turn the balance in your favour or keep a damaged Elite unit alive long enough to get one more attack off before it dies. Some interesting units to play with this are the Fire Prism, with its ability to effectively cancel two attacks per round or the Sa’cae XV88 Broadside with the ability to gain Area Effect (2). You could even Gift Of Isha it in in a pinch to hopefully throw the math in your favour, although I think that is a pretty desperate play. Even more interesting is this card being used in a Necron deck with the Lynchguard Sentinel, as they can protect this unit while they are ready. Overall, I am not completely sold on this card, I feel I would rather just take another 2 cost unit that hits harder and just hope my elites survive long enough to get their attacks off before they die.

The second spoiled concealing-darkness card is Concealing Darkness and is a Deep Strike event that has no regular cost and thus can only be played through Deep Strike. For a cost of 1 resource, in addition to the 1 resource to put the card in reserve, you are now able to ambush in any Eldar units at that planet until the end of the phase. This can allow you to threaten a planet win with a lesser deployed force. If the enemy ends up sending their warlord to that planet or deploys a lot of units there you can easily counter, if they don’t you can hopefully win with the few units you have at the planet and save those units in your hand for the next planet. However, with the decent command that most Eldar units have, it is tough not to play them out during the deploy phase to take advantage. This is especially true of units with the Mobile keyword or the ability to jump to another planet. Where this event becomes really useful is for units that are usually first targets for any attacks. Some examples are the Iyanden Wraithguard, Starbane’s Council or the Furious Wraithblade. Being able to bring these units in on your terms allows you to get the most of the damage they are dealing. We also can’t forget about the Mighty Wraithknight, being able to exhaust every enemy unit along with Warlords is something that shouldn’t be taken likely. Note that you don’t have to Ambush in your units all at once, you can pull them in one at a time, only as necessary and only when it is your turn to swing. I think this card fits nicely with how the Eldar play, they already have lots of units with Mobile or Mobile-like abilities and this card just allows them to be more versatile in what planets their units decide to fight at.

Hope you enjoyed the two spoilers from the Unforgiven warpack. The Tactical Squad would like thank Fantasy Flight Games for allowing us to share these with you. Until next time.

Buying Guide – Orks

While the Warhammer 40,000 universe is filled with grim grit and despair it has a distinct streak of humour, both goofy and morbid, running through it. No faction better embodies this humour than the Orks. Orks are hoards of boyz, ramshackle looted trukks, and various other strange sights, all held together solely by belief. In the Warhammer 40,000: Conquest Living Card Game these themes are carried through to create some hilarious and distinct game play.

In my first Buying Guide – The Basics, I discussed the LCG format and made suggestions for initial purchases. In this article I’m going to delve into Conquest’s fungal green skinned hooligans, the Orks.

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Buying Guide – Astra Militarum

In the Warhammer 40,000 universe the Space Marines represent the poster children of humanity but the true might of the Imperium of Man comes from the Astra Militarum. The countless soldiers of the Militarum are numerous and expendable, a theme that is carried over well into the Warhammer 40,000: Conquest Living Card Game. In my first article, Buying Guide – The Basics, I talked about the LCG format and how to get started in general, today I’m going to focus on getting started with Astra Militarum in particular.

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War Journal – Yelling into the Void

Rotation 7 – Feb 6th to Mar 17th

In the grim future there are only burly men yelling.  Or at least that’s all there was in this rotation. This time around I focused on Ba’ar Zul, the Hate-bound, bringing him to two Store Championships, and also worked on my Colonel Straken damage prevention deck. I had these decks built for almost seven weeks, but, with moving taking up most of my life during that time, I didn’t get to play much. That said, I did get some great testing in and really enjoyed playing Ba’ar Zul. Speaking of our angry friend, let’s dig in.

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War Journal – The Other Star…guy?

Rotation 6 – January 7th to January 28th

Its that time again! only about a month late its time for another War Journal. This time around I will be looking at my play experience with and thoughts about Commander Starblaze. I also played some games with Zarathur, and have moved on from Old One Eye. I’m not sure how much I have that is worth while so they won’t be included today. With that out of the way let’s dig into the 41st millenium’s anime space fish. Read More

The Hammer Dance

If there is one thing about Warhammer 40,000: Conquest that new players miss, it is the importance of the Command Struggle.  Sure, you can try to dump all your units at planet 1 each turn and hope to win by brute force, but after a turn or so you’ll look across the table and say “Hey, why do I only have 4 resources and 2 cards while my opponent has 10 resources and 7 cards?”.  The reason?  The Command Struggle.

The Command Struggle is the most subtle part of Conquest, but if you ask me, it is easily the most important part of it.  Even if the first three planets share an icon and your opponent won the first two, with more resources and cards at your disposal you can pick and choose your battles and overwhelm your opponent where necessary.  The Command Struggle requires many small choices to maximize your returns and minimize your losses. 

So the question is, how do you maximize your gains from the Command Struggle, while not letting your opponent win the game by planet icons? 

As you all know, whichever player has more command icons on their units at a planet after Warlords have committed will receive the card and resource bonus from a planet.  Leaving Warlords out of it for now, let’s discuss the basics.

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Revisiting The Threat Beyond

Its been a while now since the Warlord cycle ended and, while it has taken me a bit longer than intended, there is still a lot to be gained from going back to take another look at those War Packs. I think that, for the Tactical Squad, The Threat Beyond may have been one of the most anticipated War Packs at the time it was originally released. Astra Militarum had mostly been floundering since the Core Set and the pack seemed to include great cards for many factions. With the Warlord cycle in full swing, I think the impact was taken very much in stride. Looking back now this may have been the biggest release of the cycle. But enough build up; let’s talk cards.

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Buying Guide – Tyranids

When the Wahammer 40,000: Conquest Living Card Game was released in 2014 the core set included 7 playable factions. However, the rulebook stated that there would be a total of 9 playable factions. In 2015 the first of those two additional factions – the Tyranids – was released.

In my first article, Buying Guide – The Basics, I talked about the structure of the Living Card Game format and game a general overview of some good starting purchases. In this article I’m going to talk about getting started with the Tyranid faction.

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Buying Guide – The Basics

The Warhammer 40,000: Conquest Living Card Game by Fantasy Flight Games was released at Gencon in 2014. Since its release the game has seen its card pool grow continuously and the community has developed along with it. While this is exciting, it means that the game may be more daunting and expensive to enter. This buying guide will introduce prospective players to the Living Card Game model, explain what comes in different products, and give suggestions about what products will give players a good selection to get started with.

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